Intel can exclude PCIe from Oak Trail after FTC order
updated 05:35 pm EDT, Tue November 2, 2010
Intel Oak Trail required to carry PCIe by FTC
The Federal Trade Commission today approved an order changing its settlement with Intel to determine changes for Oak Trail processors. The company can ship the future Atom chips as-is until June 2013, when it will have to either add PCI Express to a future version or drop it entirely. Intel had originally been exempt because of Oak Trail's tablet focus, but companies have been planning Oak Trail netbooks and thus turned it into a computer.
An Oak Trail successor is already being designed to add PCIe support, Intel said.
The original August ruling had required that Intel had to keep supporting the PCI Express standard for at least six years to avoid discrimination against NVIDIA and any other company that wanted to supply their own graphics. NVIDIA had played a role in the FTC's lawsuit by accusing Intel of arranging deals that punished companies for using non-Intel video.
Oak Trail is due to ship in 2011.
